Shadowed Hearts
by wildfireluvr17
Summary: I'm not really sure where im going with this story yet...but in the first chapter, Sesshomaru has a confrontation with a young ninja girl near a secluded hot spring. There is something..different..about this girl. Want to find out how? Then you MUST read!
1. Chapter 1

Hihi everyone! This is my first ever story, so's ima not all that sure about how good it'sa gonna be, but i hope you like it!!! Please R&R!!! I could use all the constructive critisicim you got, plus maybe a couple ideas about how to go from here...ima not really certain where im goin with this!!! Well, thanks & luvs ya all bunches!!!

P.S. Anything in ittalics is the characters thoughts. Just thought ida letcha knows!!!

Lizzy

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--Akemi--

Akemi Hamasaki was mad. Not just any kind of mad, but terribly, horribly mad. She stalked through the forest angrily, not giving a thought to the fact that she was making a great deal more noise then was wise. Or that she was doing so without having her bow or naginata. All she could think about was the scene she had just witnessed.

Flashback

Akemi skipped happily down the deserted street on her way back home. She couldn't wait to get back to her bed and go to sleep, because the sooner she woke up in the morning, the sooner she would be getting married! The thought brought a happy smile to her face. Ren Kumawara was perfect in every way, from his looks down to his family.

The Kumawaras were the most prestegious and wealthy ninjas in the villiage. They married only the most accomplished women or men, and Akemi had been honered to be chosen by Ren as his wife. She had spent most of her life training to be better, only to be scoffed at by her father and older brothers. No matter how many assignments she had completed succsesfuly, they had never recognized her skill. But Ren had. And tomorrow she would be gone from her negative father and horrid brothers! She would be part of the most respected family for miles around, and it would be them trying to make the past 18 years up to her, insted of her.

Akemi, being anxious to get home, took the shortcut behind the weapon building. She had walked a few steps when she heard noises coming from the other side of a tall stack of boxes. Her ninja instints kicked in and she crouched down low, keeping to the shadows the building was casting. Creeping forward silently, she leaned forward just slightly to see what was going on...and almost had a heart attack.

"Ohhh! Ren! Baby, please!" the woman cryed out, pressing herself back up against the building. She saw Ren, his dark head thrown back and his hakama pants around his ankles. Akemi's eyes went wide, and then slowly began fading from their sparkling green to a deep shade of black. Her fists clenched, and she felt her aura growing more and more by the passing second. Not good. The last time she lost control like this, 4 street punks had wound up with serious...man injuries, along with a couple broken noses and legs.

She felt it pulse, then whip out to strike Ren. The sheer power of it earned her a yelp of pain as he pulled away from the woman to face her. His face paled to resemble a piece of parchment, and he quickly pulled up his hakamas. This just served to make Akemi angrier. How **could **he?! I thought he **cared** about me, at least some! And he's just been playing me for a fool this whole time...the thought didn't sit well with Akemi.

Her aura lashed out again, this time knocking Ren back. He landed on his bottom, a scared look on his face. The woman he was with screamed and tryed to run past Akemi, tripping over her tangled dress as she went. She landed in front of Akemi and curled into a tiny ball, humiliated.

Akemi recognized her as the daughter of Tobushara, the second most wealthy family in the area. Suprisingly, this didn't shock her all that much. Nakita was notorious for spreading her...favors. And she had been after Ren for years.

_Well, she can have him! I'm through! _And without a backwards glance, she spun on her heel and ran. She slowed only when she reached the forest...

Flashback End

Without realizing it, she had come to stop in the middle of a beautiful clearing, decorated with hundreds of flowers. Despite how mad she was, she had to catch her breath at the exquisetness of it all. There was a small hot spring about 20 feet from her, with strange little water lillies strewn amongst it's steamy waters.

_Where did this come from? I've never seen it before...,_

Well, whatever it was, she stepped farther into the clearing, breathing in deeply the intoxicating fragrance surrounding her. Without giving it a second thought, she bent down and began weaving the flowers together to create an intricate head crown, humming to herself as she did...

--Sesshomaru--

Sesshomaru strode lazily through the woods, looking for any site of a spring where he could bathe. After three weeks of traveling, he was dirty and disgusted by the stench of himself. Also, Rin was in desperate of a good, throurogh washing. He would never understand how human hands could become so dirty.

He walked on, listining to Ren arguing playfuly with Jaken behind him. He sighed. He was just ready to find somewhere with a spring, and perhaps some flowers to keep Ren interested. Then he stopped. What was that??..

Somewhere up ahead, he could feel a terribly strong aura...not Naraku, but something else just as strong, if not stronger...what was going on?

"Ren, Jaken, be quiet and stay behind me." he commanded quietly. They immediatly hushed. He made his way forward slowly, listining for signs to see if this new presence was a threat...then he heard humming. His ears twitched slightly as they picked up on parts from a song he had heard Rin sing every now and again.

Sesshomaru how now reached the edge of a small clearing. There was his damn hot spring he'd been searching for! And the flowers! Then he saw her.

She had long, flowing blonde hair down to her waist...where did she get such hair? He had never seen a woman with hair that color. When she shifted slightly, the hair moved away from her face and he could see the striking green eyes, positioned on a flawless face. She was pale, perhaps paler then him, but with devastatingly red lips. He had honestly never seen such a bizzare woman! Women were supposed to have brown or black hair, and they didn't have green eyes...or, at least, not that vivid of a green...

She was sitting amongst the flowers, looking much like Rin did when she was happy. She had a multi-colored flower crown sitting lopsidedly on her head, and appeared to be working on a necklace to match. Her eyes were shining brightly, and there was a childlike innocence about her. He felt more then heard Rin give a little squeak of pleasure behind him at the numerous flowers before her. But the girl seemed to hear.

Her head snapped up, and her eyes narrowed dangerously. Then he felt it. The aura. It was coming from this girl! It rolled off of her in waves now. She shot up to her feet when she noticed him standing just outside the clearing, watching her with bored eyes. Her hands moved as if to grab for a sword at her side, then she seemed to realize she didn't have one. She cursed quietly to herself for forgetting it, and he arched an eyebrow up in amusement.

Unfortunatly, this didn't seem to make her any more pleased. Her eyes began to bleed into black, and he felt her aura begin whipping around her. His rose of its own voliation, striking out at her. It didn't hurt her, but he could tell she felt it. Her face took on a suprised expression, then suddenly and complely without warning, she vanished. Just...gone. Not even Koga, that annoying wolf-demon with the in-human(excuse the pun) speed could move that fast!

He waited a few moments, trying to detect which way she went by her aura, but there was nothing. He had to be impressed. She must have had some amount of formal training.

But it was of no consequence. He would more then likely never see her again, and he had other things to attend to. And one of those things was currently squirming impatiently behind him. He sighed.

"You may go play with the flowers, Rin" he said to the little girl. She squeled in excitement and took off. If he had been one for laughter, he would have laughed at the look on her face as she fell into the masses of flowers. Instead he made his way to the hot spring, walking to the other side for his own privacy. He ordered Jaken to watch Rin, never once noticing the pair of eyes that followed his every move from the treetops above.

--Akimi--

_Who was he?_ she wondered to herself as he dissapeared around the side of the hot spring. Akimi looked back to the smiling little girl with interested eyes. _It can't be his daughter, this girls completly human...not a servant, surely, or he wouldn't treat her so nicely._

Oh well. She brushed it aside. It was time to go. She should never have been out here without her weopons. _What if he had decided to attack? _She thought, disgusted with herself. She turned from her spot on the tree brach and began leaping back towards the villiage. She had alot to do before her "wedding" tomorrow. She made an animal noise in her throat.

There was no way in hell she'd marry that bastard now!

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Thanks again for reading! I'll try and have chapter two up soon, so's please R&R!!!

Lizzy


	2. Chapter 2

Hihi everyone! Sorry it took so long to get this back up on here! Summers here & all, so's I just got kinda distracted! But anywhosey, heres Chappy 2, ENJOY!

Domo arigato!

Lizzy

--Akemi--

"NO! I said I will not marry him, and that means NO!" Akemi yelled at her father in frustration. Not exactly the smartest thing to do in the situation at hand.

Her father was furious. Not only had she came in way past curfew last night, but she had been abruptly followed by not only the villiage chief, but the angry familys of Ren and Nakita. They had told their parents about the entire ordeal (well, without the part about **why** she was so mad), who promptly went and told the person in charge of the whole place

The entire night turned into an hours long shouting match between everyone, which resulted in two **very** insulted familys, a couple of broken chairs, and the villiages head chief getting thrown headfirst into a pile of mud in the pigs pen. But no matter what was said or who was threatened, Akemi stuck by her statement. She would **not** marry that baka! No, she absolutly refused!

Of course, that didn't mean her father was agreeing with her. Or the villiage chief, for that matter. He seemed to have decided that after being thrown into the mud by Akemi's father, the best suitable punishment would be to continue with the joining of the familys, and with this decision, everyone had to oblige, no matter how much they detested it.

Akemi snapped back to when she realized that her fathers face was turning a very ugly shade of purple, and the table he was gripping the edges of was starting to show cracks. He was also still shouting.

"**YES**, you will Akemi! The villiage head said you must, and that is final!" he nearly screamed, his fingers tightning even more ominously against the wood.

"It should not be his choice who I marry, Father! That man cheated on me! I will not spend the rest of my life with the likes of **him**!" she ranted back, now dangerously close to tears. This was simply not **right**! Why could no one understand why she didn't want to marry him?!"

"You are a woman! Woman do not have the choice of who they will spend their lives with, which is good because some of them, and I could name quite a few, would make the **wrong** choice!" he shouted, his neck muceles bulging.

"That is not true! Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean your any better then me! I can do all the work you can, make all the decisions you can **and** I can even fight just as well as you can!" she told him angrily. At this, a chunk of wood broke off into her fathers hands. She ducked as he hurled it towards her, and it crashed through the window behind her.

"I will not take this insolense! You are a woman, therefore you shall do as you are told! Now, go to your room and stay there until the other women come to help you dress!" he said, screaming now. Akemi didn't argue, but dissapeared in a second, leaving only the wind swirling behind her.

--Sesshomaru--

Rin's endless chatter began to fade into the background as he walked, simply taking in the scenery of the Western lands. It had been almost 3 months now since he had last seen his lands, and he found the sight to be quite refreshing to his weary mind, though he would never admit it.

They went around a sharp curve on the road, and came to area he had sought out to rest for the night. There were enough flowers to keep Rin preocupied, and it was secluded enough that there was no real threat of attack. Not that he couldn't defeat any demon with ease, but it was nice to rest in peace for the night. He found a nice tree to lean back against and closed his eyes, his thoughts drifting away, though his mind stayed in the clearing watching after Rin.

--Akemi--

There was really no other choice then. Her father had refused to listen to reason, so she now had to take matters into her own hands. Akemi rushed around the room, grabbing a few kimonos, her two training outfits, and other various items she would need. She thrust them into a carry pack and pulled the straps over her shoulders. She strapped her naginata and bow on, then grabbed her shuriken and thrust them into her obi, where she kept them so no one would see.

Akemi took one last look around her room, knowing that this would probably be the last time she would ever see it. Once you left the villiage, you did not come back. At least not the way **she **was leaving it.

Not that she was going to miss the place. She couldn't stand living here, and in fact had only stuck around as long as she did because Ren asked her to marry him. Her upper lip curled in disgust. Oh yes, she would get him back. She had not quite decided **how** just yet, but she would.

She turned to the window and opened it quietly, slipping out into the blinding light of day. She grimiced, wishing it was night again. She felt more free moving through shadows then she did shine. She should be safe, though. She was heading around the back of the house, so her father shouldn't see her. Of course, **shouldn't** was the operative word. Her father tended to creep up when and where she least wanted him.

Just as Akemi reached the edge of the woods, she heard the shout. She moved just in time, the small dagger her father had thrown cutting through her hair where her shoulder had been just moments ago. She whipped around to face him, knowing full well now that she wasn't going to get away without a confontation. It wasn't that she couldn't defeat him, she would just rather end it now so that he didn't alert the entire villiage as to what was going on. This, however, he seemed bent on doing.

"What are you thinking! Get back here **now**! You will not run away and disgrace this family! If you choose not to cooperate with me, then goddess help me Akemi, I **will** be forced to hurt--"

He never finished that sentence. Suddenly, his face went white, and the twin dagger dropped from his lifeless hand. The very end of a sword was poking through his chest, and blood was already pooling around his feet. Akemis father fell to the ground, and the man behind him looked up to see Akemi, her entire poster screaming disbelief. He smiled a feral grin, making his yellow teeth gleam an unhealthy glow, then launched himself at her, matted black hair flying behind him.

Akemi snapped out of her shock just in time to counter his blow with her naginata, sidestepping hiim as he struck again. She quickly put an end to his miserable life with a quick blow to his neck, severing it neatly from his body, then ran to her fathers side. She dropped down on her knees beside him, unable to speak as the tears rolled out of her eyes.

No matter what the mans faults or shortcomings had been, he was still her father. He had taught her everything she knew about fighting, and about how to survive. And now..she pulled him into her arms and buried her face on his shoulder, ignoring the blood now seeping down through the bottoms of her hair to her kimono.

It took a few seconds of painfull shock before she fully acknowledged what had just happened. She looked up and, for the first time, heard the shouts now coming from the villiage. Akemi laid her father down gently on his back, and swore an oath to get revenge on whomever was responsible for this. Her vendetta against Ren pushed out of her mind, she took off towards the shouts.

Thank you so much for reading the second chapter! I've already got a basic plan of what's gonna happen next, but I'm still welcoming any suggestions you may have! Constructive criticisim is okie doke as well, but I really detest flamers. If you have a problem with what I'm writing, then don't read it, that's all there is to it.

Sore dewa!

Lizzy


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